A D V E R T I S E M E N T
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
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Meeting with proponents for the Committee to Save Tigard-Tualatin Pools, Tuesday, the Washington County Board of Commissioners has decided to push back a vote on an important ordinance change regarding unincorporated Bull Mountain.
Under current laws the city of Tigard is responsible for the area’s parks and recreation needs, however the pools committee is hoping to create a special aquatic district in order to keep the swimming pools at Tigard and Tualatin high schools open – something that they cannot do without amending the current Bull Mountain regulations.
“It was a bit of a frustrating meeting,” said committee spokeswoman Cheryl Coupé. “We had really hoped that they would vote to approve the ordinance change.”
The Bull Mountain region is important to keeping the pools open, because if the county votes against the ordinance change, the pools committee would have to draw up a whole new boundary, which is something that the committee has neither the money, nor time, to accomplish before the pools shut down for good.
The county has also asked the pools committee to meet with Tigard city officials one last time to make sure that a special district is the only option for keeping the two pools open.
Washington County pushed back the vote on the ordinance to their Oct. 27 meeting because, according to Coupé, the county was worried that they would not have enough votes to approve the measure.
While this means that the pools committee has another week to plan and present their case to the county, the decision could not have come at a worse time.
“It’s getting really tight for our deadline,” said Coupé. Pool proponents have to file their ballot measure to create the new aquatic district by Nov. 17.
Assuming that the county approves the ordinance change, they still have to give final approval for the measure to even make it onto the ballot.
If the committee misses the Nov. 17 deadline, they will not be able to make it onto the 2010 ballot. The Tigard-Tualatin School District has said that if a way to keep the pools open can’t be found by then, the two pools will have to be closed.
The resulting damage caused by the draining of the two pools would make the pools unusable.
Close the pools. They are a money drain used by only a few people. It's not fair that the rest of us should pay for them. Our taxes are far too high now. The homeowners are being expected to fund too much. My family deserves to be able to spend that $50 annually on something we enjoy, not the hobby of someone else. Stop the greed.
(email verified)
Fri, Oct 23, 2009 at 10:14 AM
Really?? Close the Pools? No way! Would you vote to close down a football field, probably not! There are so many kids who benefit from participating in water sports! These programs are open year round to students (Swim Team and Water Polo as well as off season club teams!) Not only that, but they are available and used by community members, for excersise classes and children's swim lessons. It's aweful that some people aren't open to paying a bit more in taxes to support the positive activities for our youth to be involved in!
(email verified)
Fri, Oct 23, 2009 at 10:16 AM
$50 annually to keep these pools open for a ton of kids & Families to benefit from is hardly anything...literally, drink one less latte at Starbucks a month! You dont want to pay this little amount, but you'll complain when kids are getting in trouble b/c they dont have anything to do after school anymore! Keep the Pools OPEN!
(email verified)
Fri, Oct 23, 2009 at 10:52 AM
To "Keep the Pools OPEN!" - have you looked at your property tax bill recently and noticed how many of those different bonds there are on the tax bill? - or may be you are selfish apartment dweller or out of the district and care less about people being taxed. Why not to make a sales tax or a utility bill addition so everyone pays for it and not just the homeowners. Why everything have to be financed by the homeowners, why not a sales tax - maybe people like you would get to spend some money?
Real estate property are not an ATM where homeowners can just pull the money anytime for anything. Some just did that in the past with Home Equity Line of Credits and now they are foreclosed or about to be foreclosed.
Secondly - we are Tigard residents with kids in the TTSD and in the summer every time we tried to use the pools we were turned away because some interest groups were using it and the public use time was almost non-existent. Every time we end up in Beaverton or Portland pools paying non-resident prices. So where is the motivation for people like us to tax our self more.
How many hobbies can we afford? How about baseball, football, soccer, chess clubs – why those groups don’t get a taxing district?
People – please don’t make Tigard “tax hell”
(email verified)
Fri, Oct 23, 2009 at 04:12 PM
Such a group of selfish swimmers. Why should we fund your hobby? We have our own interests, whatever they may be. Get in the car and drive your kids where they need to go. These pools are a convenience for the swim club period. Very few other people use the pools. They need to close if they aren't financially realistic. No one pays for my kid's hobby and my money should be spent for my child, not yours, just because you are too lazy to drive the car. Be real here. Other people and their intersts matter, not just yours.
(email verified)
Fri, Oct 23, 2009 at 07:43 PM
I will vote no if this reaches the ballot. I live in Tigard and have a child and never use the pools since they are not convient to us and we are in Tigard no man's land, meaning we live in Tigard but are in Beaverton school district and are not included in the Tualitin Hills Park and recs district. I am against supporting the pools that are used by a few.
Now if Tigard residents want to get thier act together along with the board and shoot for a community rec center that could be used by a bigger section of people
THAT I would support and wounldn't even mind if the rate was twice that being asked for for these two pools used by a select few.
My daughter has taken swim class and particpated in other rec activites at a Portland rec center (and even with paying out of residetns fees it is still worth it for the services and lack of hassle involved in ever trying use tulatin hills or Tigard's). She is currently taking her fourth session of swim classes in a recs center that serves a wide section of the the community. Young, old with a variety of activties.
That's what I want to see in Tigard's future.
(email verified)
Mon, Nov 02, 2009 at 02:49 PM
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Re: Vote on pools pushed back
Close the pools!
People are tired of skyrocketing Property Taxes going through the roof endlessly every year. That applies to renters as well since the landlords will raise the rents to try to recover the expenses. For homeowners only recourse is to sell and move out or let them foreclose for the taxes, and some - don't even realize what they're doing to themself by voting on all those bonds.
No more TAXES!!!!!!!!!!!!
"No more property tax increase!!!"
(email verified)
Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 04:10 PM